Amazon Synod Briefing: New
challenges and new solutions
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| Synod briefing in the Vatican Press Office |
Four participants at the Synod for the Amazon met
journalists in the Holy See Press Office on Monday afternoon for an exchange of
experiences and impressions regarding the 9th General Congregation.
By Vatican News
The 9th General Congregation, held on Monday
morning, was attended by 179 Synod Fathers, together with Pope Francis, who
opened the session with a prayer for Ecuador.
This was confirmed by the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery
for Communications, Dr Paolo Ruffini, before he invited Jesuit Fr Giacomo
Costa, Secretary of the Information Commission, to provide a summary of what
was discussed in the Synod Hall.
Summary by Fr Giacomo Costa SJ
Fr Costa began by affirming how Pope Francis’
Encyclical, Laudato sì, is proving to be more than just a text, but
truly rooted in the realities discussed at the Synod. This is being
demonstrated by the way “everything is connected”, he said.
Summarizing what was discussed in the Synod Hall on Monday
morning, Fr Costa listed several themes: dialogue with indigenous people, and
the importance of participating in their lives, protecting local peoples’
rights and safeguarding nature. He said the need to remain rooted in the ground
of experience coming from local territory was also mentioned.
The Synod Fathers discussed the challenges to local
ministries, he said, how to inculturate the liturgy, and how to respond better
to the needs and cultures of the people. The Eucharist, continued Fr Costa, was
presented as “a source of unity and light”. Participants at the General
Congregation, he said, confirmed we are “custodians of nature”, and stressed
the integral and ecological focus of the Synod.
Participants at the morning session, said Fr Costa, affirmed
the Church’s role of protecting and promoting the local people, of accompanying
those without a voice. A suggestion was put forward to set up an international
ecclesiastical observatory on the rights of indigenous people. Some Synod
participants confirmed the importance of the Church integrating her
perspectives into practices concerning human rights.
Fr Costa continued his summary of the proceedings that
included the topic of “circular economic models”: access to food that respects
the environment, and has a positive impact on local populations. These models
can be achieved through an “integral education” that helps promote an equitable
consumption of goods, he reported.
Not just education, but information too, was a topic that
came under discussion, said Fr Costa. According to Synod participants, the
“communication culture” is growing rapidly in the Amazon Region, and we need to
“bridge the communications gap”. This means training local indigenous
communicators, and establishing communications networks based on community and
solidarity.
Ms Josianne Gauthier, Secretary General CIDSE (Canada)
Ms Josianne Gauthier is Secretary General CIDSE, the “Coopération
Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité", an umbrella
organization for Catholic development agencies from Europe and North America.
She began her presentation by saying how CIDSE has spent over 50 years
supporting communities, including in the Amazon, promoting integral ecology and
defending human rights.
We are here at the Synod, she said, in a “listening
position”, to hear stories and to begin work on how to support these messages
outside the Synod “in political spaces”. The task of CIDSE, she explained, is
to “take struggles and turn them into political pressure”.
Ms Gauthier said those of us who live “from the benefits of
the tragic exploitation” that takes places in that part of the world, have a
“heightened responsibility”. We need to recognize that “our wellbeing and
comfort comes at a cost”, she said: human life, security, peace, and ecological
justice.
Ms Gauthier concluded saying we need to promote
consciousness and concentrate on “doing what we can after the Synod to transmit
these messages”.
Bishop José Ángel Divassòn Cilveti, S.D.B. of Bamaccora
(Venezuela)
Bishop José Ángel Divassòn Cilveti is a Salesian. The
Salesians, he said, have been working in the south of Venezuela since 1957.
Reflections after the Second Vatican Council led to a new approach that began
in 1976, he said: developing new forms of evangelization that support people
and help them “take control of their own destinies”. Priests, laypeople, men
and women religious, are all involved in this mission and have developed
criteria based on participating in people’s live, and respecting communities,
educating them, and assisting them with projects, he said.
In order to evangelize effectively, said Bishop Cilveti, we
need to be familiar with people’s feelings, to understand what they think.
Speaking in terms of his own experience, he said people “want to follow Jesus
Christ, they want to change”. The Gospel has brought new concepts like mercy
and forgiveness, he said, and these become the keys to solving many problems
and conflicts.
The Bishop concluded by describing the Church in his region
as a “young Church with different features”, one that helps people to help
themselves.
Bishop Carlo Verzeletti of Castanhal (Brazil)
Bishop Carlo Verzeletti comes from Castanhal, in Brazil. His
diocese comprises over 1,000 villages beside the mouth of the Amazon River. His
priests, he added, “are few and aging”. They are able to meet people only a few
times a year when they visit to celebrate Mass. This “running from one place to
another”, does not offer the “presence and proximity, the support and comfort”,
the people desire, he said.
The priest becomes the “distributor of the sacraments”, he
added. Which is why Bishop Verzeletti supports the ordination of “viri
probati”, approved married men, “so that the Eucharist can become a reality
that is closer to people and communities”. These would not be “second-rate
priests”, he added, but men who are formed accordingly, “devoting their lives
to others”.
Bishop Verzetti said his region has been severely affected
by colonization and globalization: the result is secularization, religious
indifference, and the influence of the Pentecostal churches. “Popular piety
cannot resist the impact”, he said.
As an example, Bishop Verzetti said there are 750
Pentecostal churches in his city alone, and only 50 Catholic churches.
He has ordained 110 Permanent Deacons, he said, and works at
empowering laypeople, “but with difficulty”. Were the Pope to consider the
reality of “viri probati”, concluded the Bishop, “we have worthy people who
could be ordained priests”.
José Gregorio Dìaz Mirabal (Venezuela)
Mr José Gregorio Dìaz Mirabal is Coordinator of COICA, the
Congress of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin. His organization
represents 4 million indigenous people spread over 4,500 communities in all six
countries of the Amazon Region.
The Catholic Church, he said in his presentation, is the
only organization calling for the world “to wake up”. Speaking as an indigenous
person, he said “we will disappear if we don’t do something”.
The presence of COICA at the Synod, said Mr Mirabal, is to
support those who are struggling to protect the land, to stop the “violent
invasion of development projects”, including hydroelectric schemes,
uncontrolled mining, and the agri-food industry. He spoke of those who are
imprisoned and murdered for speaking out against land grabbing, or while trying
to stop the pollution of the air and water.
Mr Mirabal concluded by inviting the media to help
disseminate these messages.
A question about statistics
The first question was addressed to Dr Paolo Ruffini and
concerned statistics from the Amazon Region. The Prefect of the Vatican
Communications Dicastery responded that, while pre-Synod preparations had
produced statistical materials, this is not a study conference that requires
statistical data. The Church is reflecting on “how to serve the Amazon though
pastoral activities”, he said.
The Synod is not about “percentages”, he added, but about “how
the Universal Church relates to a territory”. And a territory is best described
by those who live there, said Dr Ruffini.
Bishop José Ángel Divassòn Cilveti confirmed that
studies on the Church in the Amazon Region have been made by REPAM, and that this
data was collected and published in preparation for the Synod.
A question about sovereignty
Responding to a question on possible interference in the
Synod by local governments in the Amazon Region, Bishop Carlo Verzeletti
re-affirmed the Church’s respect for the sovereignty of Brazil, in particular.
The Church does not give “technical solutions”, he added, but guidelines so
that life and rights in the Amazon Region are respected. Resolving economic
problems in Brazil doesn’t mean opening up areas in the Amazon that will
improve the lives of the rich, but not “the lives of our people”, he said.
With regard to a meeting in the Vatican between the Vice
President of Brazil and the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, Dr
Ruffini said it had “no influence on the Synod”. The meeting was about
“diplomatic relations between states”, he said, and there was “no connection”
with the Synod for the Amazon.
A question about future Pan-Amazonian organization
A question was asked about the possibility of setting up a
future Pan-Amazonian organization after the Synod. It was confirmed that the
topic had been raised in one of the small working groups, but there was a
concern about multiplying too many organizations when the REPAM network already
exists.
Ms Josianne Gauthier added that any form of collaboration is
helpful when it comes to defending human rights. As long as there is “clarity
of intention”, she said her organization would work with whatever structure is
decided upon.
A question about viri probati
In connection with the ordination of approved married men,
or “viri probati”, Jesuit Fr Giacomo Costa stressed the desire of the Pope that
“all issues” be discussed in order to discern appropriate solutions. Fr Costa
confirmed there are “different positions” on this issue, but that “everyone is
listening in a respectful way”.
Dr Ruffini added that while some may be in favour and others
against, in the end it is not the Synod that decides. The Synod will eventually
entrust its reflections to the Holy Father as “something that is still in
progress”.
A question about Ecuador
Responding to a question about the ongoing violence in
Ecuador, José Gregorio Dìaz Mirabal said that what is happening throughout the
region, “pains all of us”. There are so many challenges in search of solutions,
he said.
Bishop José Ángel Divassòn Cilveti added that it is
important to be aware of what is happening in these situations. We can only
understand if we “look at the overall picture”, he said.
A question about Church investments
A question was asked regarding Church investments in
projects in the Amazon Region. Fr Costa responded saying the Church has already
disinvested and is disinvesting from certain products and companies.
Ms Josianne Gauthier added that disinvestment is a way by
which the Church can show her “coherence with Laudato sì and integral ecology”,
the connection between “words and actions”.
A question about the Church’s Amazonian face
The last question was about the kinds of changes that need
to be made if the Church in the Amazon Region is truly to have an “Amazonian
face”.
José Gregorio Dìaz Mirabal responded by repeating that it is
not up to the Synod to make decisions. He confirmed, however, that the Church
“must reach out”, and must be reflected in the realities of the local people.
He admitted that the Church needs support, and needs to
build greater unity with the indigenous people in some parts of the Amazon
Region.
In order to make one another stronger, he concluded, we need
to “walk together” – even if it means “going barefoot”.
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